


Not Your Fault

by GoosewithaNuke



Series: Holtzbert Week 2018 [2]
Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-07 16:59:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15223679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoosewithaNuke/pseuds/GoosewithaNuke
Summary: For Holtzbert Week 2018Day 2: Emergency Room





	Not Your Fault

Erin had always expected that she’d be making a trip to the emergency room with Holtzmann. In fact, she was surprised that it hadn’t happened sooner. She’d also expected that whatever it was that caused the trip would happen in the lab or on a bust, so the fact that it happened in their own home came as somewhat of a surprise for her. In fact, none of the circumstances of their first trip to the emergency room could have been predicted.  
  
  
Erin had been working on the latest chapter for their new book when she heard an almighty crash from the other side of the apartment. The sound alone was enough to scare Erin, considering she’d thought she was home alone.  
  
Cautiously Erin called out, “Holtz? Was that you?”  
  
Her question was met with a loud groan that was distinctly Holtzmann’s. Erin stood up anxiously. “You okay?” She asked. At that point the answer would have been irrelevant in her decision to continue writing or to go and check on her girlfriend; she was already walking.  
  
Erin went into the bathroom where the sound and emanated from. Holtzmann had evidently turned it into a make-shift lab. Erin could just make out one of Holtzmann’s legs sticking out from a pile of metal.  
  
“Holy shit!” Erin cried.  
  
She heard Holtzmann snort, “I didn’t know you knew any swears.”  
  
Erin ignored the remark, “Are you hurt? What happened?”  
  
“I’m okay,” Holtzmann reassured her.  
  
Erin started trying to dig Holtzmann out from the pile.  
  
“What are you doing?” Holtzmann said with her tone suddenly urgent and very serious.  
  
“Digging you out,” Erin replied.  
  
“No! Erin, the stuff in here is unstable, you could get hurt. I can climb out myself!” Holtzmann said quickly, “Don’t touch anything!”  
  
Erin slowly put back the scrap of metal she was holding. It must have touched something live in the pile because the next thing they knew debris was shooting through the air. It was a short burst that sent the debris rocketing into the walls (they would argue whose fault the hole in the wall was later when everything was good again).  
  
Erin cried out as a piece hit her in the thigh.  
  
“Erin!” Holtzmann shouted, she sprung up, suddenly not worried about the volatility of the botched machine she’d been building.  
  
Erin was on the floor. It was a broken piece of pipe, about 5cm in length, that had hit her and cleanly penetrated her leg. There was no blood. It wasn’t in deep, but it was deep enough.  
  
“Shit, shit, shit,” Holtz hissed in repetition under her breath as she made her way to Erin.  
  
Erin was still conscious and moaning in pain, “Take it out Holtz! Can you take it out?”  
  
Holtzmann shook her head, “I can’t Er, it’ll make it worse.”  
  
Holtzmann was crying, Erin was not.  
  
“Holtz, we need to go to the emergency room, can you drive?” Erin asked in some semblance of calm.  
  
Holtz nodded with watery eyes. She had hurt Erin, this was her fault.  
  
Holtzmann helped Erin to her feet. Erin leaned heavily on her as they made their way downstairs.  
  
The Ecto was parked outside, Holtzmann had used it to transport some of her equipment from the lab to their apartment. Erin had protested in the past that she shouldn’t use the Ghostbusters’ car for personal errands, but now she was beyond grateful that it was here.  
  
Holtzmann loaded Erin onto the back seat so she could lie down.  
  
The drive to the hospital was a short one, Holtz drove faster than she ever had before. Erin was worried that Holtzmann was going to put them both in the emergency room, feeling that surely a crash was imminent.  
  
They got there in one piece.  
  
Holtzmann refused to let Erin walk from the car. She hoisted her up in her arms and carried her bridal style.  
  
Once in the emergency room Holtzmann refused to put her down as she carried her to the counter.  
  
“Help,” said Holtzmann to the man behind the counter.  
  
He peered over at Erin, “What’s happened?” He asked in a bored tone.  
  
Erin spoke before Holtzmann could, “There was an accident and I had a pipe penetrate my thigh. There’s no bleeding yet, but it needs to be removed.”  
  
The man wrote that down into his computer, “Pain level?”  
  
“100,” said Holtz.  
  
“5,” Erin corrected her, “it’s not too bad right now.”  
  
“Date of last tetanus shot?”  
  
“Last year,” Erin answered.  
  
The man typed, “Okay, take a seat.”  
  
“Take a seat?” Holtz spat, “she needs to be seen now! This is serious!”  
  
“And so is every other emergency in this room,” said the man, “take a seat and she will be seen as soon as possible.”  
  
Holtz looked like she was ready to pick a fight. Erin gently tapped her shoulder, “Let’s sit down Holtz. It’s okay.”  
  
Holtzmann didn’t look like she agreed, but regardless she found them a seat and sat down. Erin stayed in Holtz’s lap with her legs elevated on the seat beside them.  
  
“How are you so calm?” Holtzmann asked, her eyes were still teary in concern.  
  
Erin shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll freak out later?”  
  
They were silent for a while. They watched as other people got called out of the waiting room. Erin’s leg started to feel more achy.  
  
“I’m so sorry Erin,” Holtzmann said quietly.  
  
Erin looked up at her face, “It’s not your fault Holtz. You told me not to touch anything.”  
  
“I wasn’t careful. If I hadn’t dropped everything on top of me you never would have been in the room in the first place,” said Holtz.  
  
“I don’t blame you Holtz,” Erin said firmly.  
  
“I blame me,” said Holtzmann.  
  
Erin tried to kiss her but from the angle she was on she could only peck her chin, “Don’t blame yourself Holtz, it was an accident. I’ll be okay.”  
  
Erin’s name got called and a nurse brought a wheel chair to take her away in. They wouldn’t let Holtz go with her.  
  
  
Abby was waiting for her dinner to arrive at her apartment. She’d ordered it about two hours ago and was beginning to accept the reality that it probably wasn’t going to be arriving anytime soon. Her phone rang. She checked it and saw that it was Holtzmann calling her.  
  
“Hey Holtz,” she answered, “What’s up?”  
  
Holtzmann didn’t answer but Abby could hear her taking shaky breaths.  
  
“Holtzmann? Is everything okay?” Abby asked in concern.  
  
“I’m at the emergency room,” Holtzmann finally replied.  
  
“Are you okay? What did you do?” Abby asked with worry in her voice.  
  
Holtzmann sobbed.  
  
“Holtz? What did you do?” Abby asked again.  
  
“I hurt Erin,” Holtz’s voice wavered.  
  
“Is it bad?” Abby asked, “should I come?”  
  
Holtz sobbed again, “No. She’s in surgery now. She’s gonna be okay. But Abby, I hurt her.”  
  
Abby wanted to ask more about Erin’s condition, but she figured that wasn’t the real reason that Holtzmann had called her, “I’m sure it was an accident,” Abby said as reassuringly as she could, “Talk me through what happened.”  
  
Holtzmann shakily repeated the events of the evening to Abby.  
  
“It’s not your fault Holtz,” Abby told her.  
  
“It is,” said Holtz firmly, “I wouldn’t blame her if she never wanted to see me again.” She sobbed at the thought.  
  
“Listen to me,” Abby said, “It. Is. Not. Your. Fault. It sounds like an accident, it’s not like you personally catapulted the pipe at her. And she’s going to be okay. She loves you Holtz, that’s not about to change just because she got hurt.”  
  
“I feel guilty. I should never have brought my work home. I should have kept it at the lab. I should have told Erin not to touch anything sooner. I should have been more careful. I should—“  
  
“Holtzmann,” Abby interrupted her, “Erin doesn’t blame you okay? And you need to stop blaming yourself. What if had have been Erin who got stuck under everything, wouldn’t you have dug her out?”  
  
“Yeah, but I would have known what to look out for, Erin didn’t,” said Holtz.  
  
“Erin’s a grown woman and a scientist. She was being as careful as she could, and she was just trying to help you. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing, and let’s be honest for a moment here; you would not have been careful,” Abby reiterated.  
  
“I guess so,” Holtz was starting to see Abby’s point.  
  
Abby heard the doorbell ring, “Holtz my dinner’s here. Are you okay now, or do you want to keep talking for a bit?”  
  
Holtz thought, “I think I’m okay.”  
  
“Good. I’ll call you in the morning, okay?” Abby told her.  
  
“Thanks Abby,” said Holtzmann, “night.”  
  
“Night Holtz, tell Erin I send my love,” Abby said.  
  
“Will do,” Holtzmann hung up.  
  
  
Holtzmann was exhausted, she’d spent the night asleep in a chair beside Erin’s bed. The hospital staff had tried to get her to leave but she’d kicked up such a fuss that they eventually just gave in and let her stay.  
  
Holtzmann did still feel guilty, but she didn’t want to annoy Erin with constant apologies, so she decided to just swallow the guilt and hopefully she’d eventually convince herself that it was no one’s fault.  
  
She and Erin were playing I-spy, there wasn’t much else to do. One of the staff came in with a tray of breakfast for Erin. She told Erin that she would be discharged once she’d finished her meal.  
  
Holtzmann inspected the tray, “There’s no jello on this,” she told the woman who’d brought it.  
  
“It’s breakfast,” she replied.  
  
“But I thought jello was a standard hospital food?” Holtz said.  
  
“Not in the morning,” said the woman.  
  
“Can we get some anyway?” Holtz asked with a charming smile.  
  
The woman sighed and left the room. Erin was halfway through her dry toast when the woman came back with some jello.  
  
“Yay!” Holtzmann cheered, “Thank you so much.” She took the jello and placed it on Erin’s tray.  
  
“I don’t even like jello Holtz,” Erin told her after the woman had left.  
  
“How can you not like jello?” Holtzmann asked in mock shock.  
  
“I just don’t,” replied Erin.  
  
“But,” Holtz said sadly.  
  
“You can have it,” Erin offered.  
  
Holtzmann perked up. She took the lid off and slurped the jello down in one gulp.  
  
“Gross Holtz,” said Erin, content with her toast. Holtzmann stuck her tongue out.  
  
“Juvenile,” muttered Erin.  
  
“Will you get a cool scar?” Holtzmann asked, gently prodding Erin’s leg with one finger.  
  
“I hope not,” Erin said.  
  
“You want an uncool scar?” Holtz asked.  
  
“I don’t want a scar,” said Erin.  
  
“What does it matter?” Holtz asked, “No one sees that part of your leg anyway…unless you start wearing booty shorts, which, by the way, I would not be opposed to seeing you in.”  
  
“ _You_ see that part of my leg all the time,” said Erin, a little embarrassed.  
  
“Hey,” said Holtz softly, her joking tone suddenly gone, “I’ll love you no matter how you look, you know that right?”  
  
Erin smiled bashfully, but she was still a little self-conscious.  
  
“Besides,” said Holtz as she leaned back in her chair, the playful tone returning to her voice, “ _I_ think scars are cool.”  
  
Erin rolled her eyes. She finished the last bite of her toast and put the tray aside. “You want my juice?” She offered.  
  
Holtz took it, “You spoil me,” she said.  
  
“I’m going to get changed so I can leave,” Erin said.  
  
“You can just wear the gown out, they don’t mind, I’ve done it before,” said Holtz.  
  
“I am not wearing this outside,” Erin told her.  
  
“Fine,” Holtz conceded, “Do you need help changing?”  
  
“I should be good,” said Erin, “but thank you.” She got out of the bed.  
  
Holtz snorted.  
  
Erin turned around to face her, “What?”  
  
“I can see your butt,” Holtz said with a cheeky grin.  
  
“You’re an actual child,” Erin told her.  
  
Holtz beamed at her as she slurped from her juice box.  
  



End file.
